Dream Footprints

Five famous dreamers and the lessons we can learn from them.

Mt. Everest is not the hardest mountain in the world to climb. K2, also known as “Savage Mountain,” is the most challenging ascent and to this day, its summit has never been reached in winter. K2 isn’t as high as Everest, but its terrain and unpredictable conditions make it the most dangerous mountain in the world. One of the reasons K2 is so dangerous is the sustained technical difficulty; it is described as a cone of ice and limestone and has slopes of 45 degree angles or more. With a peak elevation of 8,611 meters, one out of four people die trying to reach the summit. So why do people try? What is the point of risking one’s life for a climb?

I’ve seen the K2 summit in photos, and when I look at its icy majesty overlooking the world, I can understand for a moment why someone would do it. To see the mountain ranges stretched out below him in surreal light. To know now like he never knew before that he can look fear and darkness and steepness in the face and keep climbing anyway. To stand at the summit and believe in the power of a dream.

Dreamers carve a new trail up the mountain – they leave “dream footprints.”

The recent blizzard in the Northeast snowed us in for days. The cars were buried, the streets looked like ski slopes and the wind blew blankets of white powder in every direction. Walking in two feet on snow is more like sinking. Until someone makes a path. Suddenly, there is a way through the wind and the snow. That is what dreamers do. They carve a trail for us up the mountain. They leave “dream footprints” for us in the snow. And if we learn from their courage, we can make it perhaps towards our own summits. Here are five famous dreamers and their lessons for us:

Act As If. After being rejected from film making school, Steven Spielberg enrolled in English at California State College at Long Beach. One day he visited Universal Studios and met an executive in the editorial department who invited him to come back to visit sometime. Spielberg showed up the next day without a job or security clearance. He dressed in a dark suit and a tie and carried his father’s briefcase with nothing in it except a sandwich and candy bars.

“For the entire summer,” Spielberg recalls.”I dressed in my suit and hung out with the directors and writers. I even found an office that wasn’t being used and bought some plastic tiles so that I could put my name in the building directory: Steven Spielberg, Room 23C.”

When we ‘act as if’ we are already where we want to be we come that much closer to getting there.

Get Back Up. The first time Jerry Seinfeld walked onstage at a comedy-club, he looked at the audience, froze and forgot all his jokes. He went through a minute and half of material before being literally jeered off stage. But here’s the important part: He returned the following night and closed his set to wild applause.

Falling on the way up the mountain is inevitable, but the ones who make it, get back up immediately.

Write On Napkins. JK Rowling was on welfare when she wrote Harry Potter. She first thought of the idea on a long train ride, and spent many years scribbling on napkins in cafes to save money on heat at home. During that time her mother died, she divorced her first husband and was raising their daughter on her own. But she continued to write, jotting down ideas whenever she had the chance. The finished manuscript was rejected by many publishers, but after it was finally accepted Rowling became the first billionaire solely through writing. When we focus on our dreams, we will want to use anything, anywhere to take them a step closer to coming true. Write on napkins.

Ignore Criticism. Thomas Edison was told by his teachers that he was too stupid to learn anything, and he was eventually homeschooled by his mother. It took him thousands of failed attempts before he invented the light bulb, and he was most famous for saying: “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” To keep going despite the difficulty requires us to tune out criticism. The person who says that it cannot be done should not be allowed to interrupt the person doing it.

Keep Your Eye On The Goal. Michael Jordan is famous for emphasizing how failures have motivated him to keep going. He has said: “I’ve missed 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed. If you’re trying to achieve there will be roadblocks. I’ve had them; everybody has had them. But obstacles don’t have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don’t turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it or work around it.”

If we know what we really want in life, we can make sure that our goal stays at the forefront of our minds at all times. When we are keeping our eyes focused on the summit, the obstacles on the way are transformed into stepping stones. Sometimes we can follow ‘dreamer footprints.” Sometimes we need to make our own path in the snow and risk sinking. But there is something about daring to dream that makes us want to climb higher. There is something about knowing what we are living for that makes us willing to die in order to get there.

About the Author

Sara Debbie Gutfreund received her BA in English from the University of Pennsylvania and her MA in Family Therapy from the University of North Texas. She has taught parenting classes and self-development seminars and provided adolescent counseling. She writes extensively for many online publications and in published anthologies of Jewish women's writing. She and her husband spent 14 wonderful years raising their five children in Israel, and now live in Blue Ridge Estates in Waterbury, Connecticut, where Sara Debbie enjoys skiing and running in her free time.

The opinions expressed in the comment section are the personal views of the commenters. Comments are moderated, so please keep it civil.

Visitor Comments: 6

(6)
Anonymous,
March 3, 2013 1:19 AM

I don't think I will ever become as wealthy or as famous as Steven Spielberg or J.K. Rowling. However, I HAVE achieved my goals by adopting a specific philosophy of life. I truly believe that when there is a will, there is a way. Conversely, when there is no will there is no way. This philosophy has kept me traveling on the road to greater religious observance, in the face of MANY obstacles. My husband is resistant to this path, and my siblings have thrown Judaism under the bus. Thank you for reinforcing what I know to be true and good!

(5)
Anonymous,
March 1, 2013 2:40 PM

So true

Wow, such an inspirational article! thank you.
It's so true, if one has a goal in mind then obstacles will not stand in one's way, but rather will help them become stronger.
Life is easier in a sense with such an attitude---there will be failures in one's endeavours, but if one keeps on ploughing through they'll reach success! it gives hope. thanks again!

(4)
Tuvia Dovid,
February 26, 2013 7:33 PM

Whoop -- wrong elevation!

Actually K-2 is 8,611 METERS, or 28,251 feet, making it the second-highest mountain in the world.

(3)
moshe borowski,
February 26, 2013 6:59 PM

as vince lombardi, the legendary football coach for whom the super bowl trophy is named, used to preach: "It’s not whether you get knocked down; it's whether you get up."

(2)
mordi,
February 26, 2013 6:55 PM

excellent

Very interesting and inspiring

(1)
C.D.Urbach,
February 26, 2013 2:31 AM

Perfect Article!!

I seriously would like to order a dozen copies of this article.It's perfect!!
Please let me know how I can do this. Thank you.

My nephew is having his bar mitzvah and I am thinking of a gift. In the old days, the gift of choice was a fountain pen, then a Walkman, and today an iPod. But I want to get him something special. What do you suggest?

The Aish Rabbi Replies:

Since this event celebrates the young person becoming obligated in the commandments, the most appropriate gift is, naturally, one that gives a deeper understanding of the Jewish heritage and enables one to better perform the mitzvot! (An iPod, s/he can get anytime.)

With that in mind, my favorite gift idea is a tzedakah (charity) box. Every Jew should have a tzedakah box in his home, so he can drop in change on a regular basis. The money can then be given to support a Jewish school or institution -- in your home town or in Israel (every Jews’ “home town”). There are beautiful tzedakah boxes made of wood and silver, and you can see a selection here.

For boys, a really beautiful gift is a pair of tefillin, the black leather boxes which contain parchments of Torah verses, worn on the bicep and the head. Owning a pair of Tefillin (and wearing them!) is an important part of Jewish identity. But since they are expensive (about $400), not every Bar Mitzvah boy has a pair. To make sure you get kosher Tefillin, see here.

In 1944, the Nazis perpetrated the Children's Action in the Kovno Ghetto. That day and the next, German soldiers conducted house-to-house searches to round up all children under age 12 (and adults over 55) -- and sent them to their deaths at Fort IX. Eventually, the Germans blew up every house with grenades and dynamite, on suspicion that Jews might be in hiding in underground bunkers. They then poured gasoline over much of the former ghetto and incinerated it. Of the 37,000 Jews in Kovno before the Holocaust, less than 10 percent survived. One of the survivors was Rabbi Ephraim Oshri, who later published a stirring collection of rabbinical responsa, detailing his life-and-death decisions during the Holocaust. Also on this date, in 1937, American Jews held a massive anti-Nazi rally in New York City's Madison Square Garden.

In a letter to someone who found it difficult to study Torah, the 20th century sage the Chazon Ish wrote:

"Some people find it hard to be diligent in their Torah studies. But the difficulty persists only for a short while - if the person sincerely resolves to submerge himself in his studies. Very quickly the feelings of difficulty will go away and he will find that there is no worldly pleasure that can compare with the pleasure of studying Torah diligently."

Although actions generally have much greater impact than thoughts, thoughts may have a more serious effect in several areas.

The distance that our hands can reach is quite limited. The ears can hear from a much greater distance, and the reach of the eye is much farther yet. Thought, however, is virtually limitless in its reach. We can think of objects millions of light years away, and so we have a much greater selection of improper thoughts than of improper actions.

Thought also lacks the restraints that can deter actions. One may refrain from an improper act for fear of punishment or because of social disapproval, but the privacy of thought places it beyond these restraints.

Furthermore, thoughts create attitudes and mindsets. An improper action creates a certain amount of damage, but an improper mindset can create a multitude of improper actions. Finally, an improper mindset can numb our conscience and render us less sensitive to the effects of our actions. We therefore do not feel the guilt that would otherwise come from doing an improper act.

We may not be able to avoid the occurrence of improper impulses, but we should promptly reject them and not permit them to dwell in our mind.

Today I shall...

make special effort to avoid harboring improper thoughts.

With stories and insights,
Rabbi Twerski's new book Twerski on Machzor makes Rosh Hashanah prayers more meaningful. Click here to order...